High Performing Buildings - Winter 2009 - (Page 36)

The penthouse office with green roof as a modern addition to a historic New York City neighborhood. seasonably variable landscape that attracts insects, birds, and the attention of all visitors. The 8th floor terrace, before addition of a 3,600 square foot green roof. After occupying the space for more than two years, the green roof is unquestionably the defining feature of the Cook+Fox office. The firm gives monthly tours, during which the roof serves as a platform for educating visitors about issues such as combined-sewer overflows and the urban heat island effect, and design concepts like biophilia. Interestingly, the green roof installation accounts for no LEED points, due to its size, and offered no monetary payback. According to principal Rick Cook, however, “the green roof has had a hard-to-quantify but very real impact on the firm — we would do it again in a heartbeat.” As a laboratory for continuous education, the office renovation has yielded many lessons for future projects of all scales. The commitment Winter 2009 © Cook+fox Architects to build to LEED Platinum requirements — whether designing lighting and mechanical systems or specifying materials and construction methods — required extra research, communication with subcontractors, and perseverance throughout design and construction. The fact that the designers were also the future occupants of the space went a long way in making the additional time and effort worthwhile. • About the Author Alice Hartley works in communications at Cook+fox and is a senior editor at Terrapin Bright green. she would like to thank mark rusitzky for his contributions to this article. 36 HigH Performing Buildings © Cook+fox Architects

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of High Performing Buildings - Winter 2009

High Performing Buildings - Winter 2009
Contents
Commentary
OHSU Center for Health & Healing
Documenting Performance
Cook+Fox Architects Office
5 Houston Center
Skanska's Atlanta Office
Advertisers Index

High Performing Buildings - Winter 2009